1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information processing apparatuses, and particularly to an information processing apparatus such as a cellular phone capable of specifying a date and time at which notification of receipt of an electronic mail (e-mail) message is to be provided.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information processing apparatuses, such as cellular phones and personal computers, are capable of transmitting and receiving e-mail messages via a network. A sender of an e-mail message enters a destination, subject and body of the e-mail message and performs a transmission operation in the information processing apparatus. A recipient of the e-mail message is notified of receipt of the e-mail message with a notifying method such as a ringtone, vibration, or the like. Upon notification, the recipient checks the content of the received e-mail message.
According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-163963, among information processing apparatuses having such e-mail capabilities, a cellular phone capable of transmitting an e-mail message at a specified date and time is known. This cellular phone having such e-mail function can automatically transmit an e-mail message at a specified date and time. Therefore, if the user wants an e-mail message to be delivered at a specific date and time, such as a birthday or anniversary, the user may be prevented from forgetting to send the message.
The cellular phone disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-163963 can effectively prevent the user from forgetting to send an e-mail message at a specific-date and time. Therefore, if the user wants to deliver a message on a specified date, such as a recipient's birthday, it is possible to effectively prevent the user from forgetting to send the message.
However, on specific dates and times such as Christmas and New Year's Day when a large number of users want to send messages, a large number of e-mail messages tend to be transmitted and received in a short period of time. Since a very intensive load is imposed on the network on such specific dates and times, certain restrictions are placed in advance on e-mail transmission and reception.
The cellular phone disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-163963 can specify a date and time of e-mail transmission, but can not prevent such an intensive load on the network.